Clumps of Colors
by somersaulter
Summary: Ichigo/Rukia. 50 little moments, some sweet, some risible, some melancholy, all leading to a colorful eternity. Based on the 1sentence themes on LJ.


_**clumps of colors  
**(bleach; kurosaki ichigo / kuchiki rukia)_

* * *

**01. Blur**

The world rushes by in clumps of colors as he rides the wind with her on his back, his warmth enveloping her and seeping deep into her skin.

**02. Eye**

He remarks that she needs to learn how to draw properly; she pokes him in the eye.

**03. Attention**

She squeals in a rather undignified manner when she sees the Chappy TV marathon; he is blatantly ignored for the rest of the day.

**04. Cool**

It is rather difficult keeping up with his image in school when everyone is cooing about how he and _Kuchiki-san_ are such an adorable couple, her always kicking him in the face and pulling him away.

**05. Command**

It is obvious to everyone, even Keigo, exactly who wears the pants in this relationship. _("But –" "Oh shut up, Ichigo.")_

**06. Gentle**

He complains that she is an unfeminine, violent little midget and in response, she thwacks him in the head with the book she is reading. _("Ouch! That's a hardcover, damnit!")_

**07. Hold**

Tiny cuts curve into her heart with every one of his fights and every drop of his blood, but she could never explain that feeling; she holds back her own pain and quietly heals away the last of his injuries.

**08. Safe**

The nightmare seizes her and she wakes in the cramped, dark closet, but the familiar waves of reiatsu sweeps over her and soon, she can breathe easily again.

**09. Goodbye**

Red mingles with the unrelenting rain _("The bleeding... It won't stop.")_; she is gone.

**10. Wait**

She stares out at the slab of sky from within the Tower of Penitence, her heart a churning mess of fear, frustration, trepidation, and most of all, _hope_._ ("An orange-haired Shinigami, with a zanpakutou as tall as he is.")_

**11. Drive**

His arms ache, his legs won't move, but in his head, all he can see is her face – she's waiting for him._ ("I won't let you die.")_

**12. Stop**

She waits for the pyrogenic creature to consume her, but the heat only swirls harmlessly in the air around her; she opens her eyes.

**13. Shadow**

They sit side by side, watching the yellow sun sink beneath the horizon.

**14. Hide**

He fights down the melancholy and smiles at her before he steps through the gate; the rain has stopped, and she's happy – that's all that matters. _("Thank you.")_

**15. Need**

He wakes up and calls for the little midget _("Oi, we're gonna be late for school.")_, before he remembers she isn't there anymore.

**16. Sudden**

He hears her _("Dumbass.")_, and his senses go numb – she is standing on the windowsill, she is _here_.

**17. Change**

She's never good with change; that night, she slips back into his room and quietly climbs into his (her) closet, eventually falling asleep to his soothing leaking reiatsu.

**18. Last**

Even though he doesn't really want it, he fights with her over the last juice box in the fridge, just to watch her face light up when he eventually gives in.

**19. Motion**

She is rapidly gaining the upper hand over the Hollow, Sode no Shirayuki dancing fluidly in front of her, but he rushes in anyway_ ("Oh damnit Ichigo!")_, not willing to take even the slightest chance.

**20. Young**

It strikes her how much he has grown over the past few months, but she quickly dismisses the idea of mental growth as he engages Kon in yet another meaningless argument and quickly proceeds to throw Kon against his (her) closet when he loses.

**21. Wrong**

When he asks her one night, as subtly as possible, if she regrets breaking the laws of Soul Society for him, her immediate and affronted negation (and the magazine that sails dangerously past his head) surprises him.

**22. History**

The flu leaves him flushed and restless, and she tries to soothe him by narrating stories from her youth in Rukongai; it only causes a lingering pride and an acute pain in his chest as he listens.

**23. Power**

He spreads the flu to her gigai, and thinks he's gained the upper hand this time, until he finds himself racing up and down the stairs to attend to her every whim._ ("A Chappy mug? Where the hell am I supposed to get a Chappy mug?!")_

**24. Picture**

He is livid at his father for getting her that camera, not only because it's in a ridiculous bright shade of green, but also – _("Rukia! I'm showering! No! Get out! Get that camera out of here!")_

**25. Naked**

The following day at the Shinigami Women's Association meeting, she hands over her prize; Nanao screams in disapproval, Yachiru squeals in delight.

**26. Child**

_("Tell me what you were like as a kid.")_ He spends the night telling her about his mother; she is content to listen.

**27. Ghost**

She carries ghosts in her heart, of her friends, her sister, Kaien; she prays she will never have to add him to that list.

**28. King**

The _other he_ was born because of her, for her; that's why _he_ holds back whenever she's around, not wanting to cause her worry and grief.

**29. Vision**

She is always exactly ninety degrees to his left or right, and that is where she will stay.

**30. God**

He stares down at the enemy, seeking comfort in her strong reiatsu, fighting her way towards him.

**31. Now**

It's just barely over, the fire still rages, blood still trickling down; she kisses him.

**32. Book**

He tastes copper and sweet relief on her lips; he reckons this night will go down in all of Soul Society's history scrolls, as well as his own.

**33. Time**

The healing begins.

**34. Soul**

Kon decides that he needs a social life, one where he does not have to witness his roommates exchange saliva on a daily, make that an hourly, basis. _("I'm moving out!" "…great?")_

**35. Mad**

Acting belligerent towards him is always a source of entertainment – the verbal abuse, the physical torture, and then of course, the make-up session.

**36. Torn**

He finds it difficult to resist when she and her sisters, all dressed in cute identical blue kimonos, are pouting at him. _("Yay! To the Tanabata Festival!")_

**37. Harm**

After all the Hollows, Kenpachis, Byakuyas, and Aizens, he belatedly realizes that she is the _ultimate_ poison to him; he should have ran the very moment he first saw her stepping in through his window.

**38. Fortune**

He doesn't need his father to tell him how incredibly lucky he is.

**39. One**

She traces the indigo sign on his door, unsure of how and when her hundred over years of life (death) crashes into this one concentrated point – one town, one room, one closet, _one person_.

**40. Thousand**

As he paces outside the Kuchiki quarters, countless scenarios run through in his head, mostly consisting of Byakuya's outright objection and a certain death served by a thousand incensed cherry blossoms.

**41. Precious**

_("I'm gonna marry her. I'm trying to do the right thing here by seeking your permission, but I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with her, no matter what you say.")_ He watches, incredulous, as something like an expression flickers across Byakuya's face and a strange noise akin to laughter escapes from the Kuchiki heir's throat.

**42. Never**

It takes a whole bottle of sake for him to choke out the words. _("Never leave me again.")_

**43. Sing**

At the wedding celebration, Isshin, dressed in a ridiculous violet suit, gets embarrassingly drunk.

**44. Bother**

_("Byakuya is here. _Again._") _She smacks him on the head before heading out to greet her brother.

**45. Wash**

_("Laundry? What do you mean I have to do the laundry? _You_ can do it.")_ Over in the living room, Byakuya orders Renji to return to the Kuchiki House and bring a manservant back.

**46. Learn**

She tells him he has to start learning to be a father, though if possible, not quite from his own; he can only stutter and stare. _("Stop that. You look like a moron.")_

**47. Hunger**

In the second month of her pregnancy, amidst wild mood swings and midnight food expeditions, he laments that hell has truly descended.

**48. Wall**

She insists on re-decorating the house for the baby; he comes home to find Chappy Land.

**49. Fool**

Sometimes she wonders who the bigger idiot is; him – the one who slashed through Seireitei to get to her, or her – the one who gave him her heart on the very first night they met.

**50. Believe**

Stepping into the rainbow-colored hospital ward, he sees her holding their little miracle.


End file.
